Month: April 2014

Although we started out this website to promote our little shop that we had in an awesome vintage camper at The Camp, it’s now taking on a whole new life!

Due to various reasons, we had to close up shop early last year (2013), but we’ve recently decided to pick up our entrepreneurial spirit again. We’ve also decided to keep the name “Nuestras Manos,” since the whole reason we liked that name was because it reflected that we were doing this together (with our hands), and even though we’re transitioning to something completely different, the concept of what we want to do is still the same: use our talents and skills, combine them, and work together doing something we love!

So, the idea is to combine our talents (photography, design, planning, organizing, wood work/crafting), and offer them to people for special events. Jeff and I had a great business meeting last night, and we’re excited about the potential this has and where it can lead us. I hope you’ll follow along!

I’m pretty sure that when I was a senior in high school you got your cap and gown photos and that was about it. One of my cousins is graduating from high school this year and she asked my hubby if he could take some pictures of her for her graduation announcements. Whaaaaaat? Seems like things have changed a bit, haha. Regardless, my aunt and cousin drove over from Murrieta this passed weekend and we all went down the street to a friend’s property in Trabuco Canyon. Yep, property. In Orange County. This is about the third photo shoot we’ve done there…the backgrounds are just perfect!

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Isn’t she pretty?! Ain’t my hubby talented?! And don’t get me started on that property again…

What better way to re-start this blog than by sharing a wonderful bachelorette weekend in San Diego for one of my dearest friends?

It’s always funny to hear how boys plan the bachelor party the week of…not so for girls! We spend months sending a flurry of emails back and forth trying to nail down every single detail. In the end, everyone has fun, but I definitely like knowing way ahead of time that everything is taken care of 🙂

My good friend Sarah and I drove down to San Diego from Orange County, while the rest of the 10 ladies took the train, so that we could check in and get the room set up and decorated. We stayed at the Omni and I have to say: it was amazing! The rooms were clean, but what really impressed me was the service–they were amazing and provided all the little (and big) extras that we requested.

As far as decorating the room, I was quite proud with the end result!

I made a cute little banner that said “bride to be” using fabric and a nice, glittery burlap from Joanne’s. The colors for the wedding are a rainbow of pastels, so I tried to go with that. I also handmade some decorative garlands that we threw around the whole room. I found these great little personalized hangover kit bags on Etsy, which I then filled with:

a couple pony tails,

mini pack of gum,

couple tablets of peptobismal,

chapstick,

an Emergen-C packet, and

a single dose pack of either Advil or Tylenol.

I wanted to put more in there, but space was limited, haha. I placed these bags in each wine glass with each girls name, and I think the over all effect was pretty nice!

After the girls arrived, we went to The Blind Burro for lunch. Delicious, happy hour specials, and no wait to be seated!

Back at the hotel, one of the games I decided to go with was to have each girl buy the bachelorette a pair of underwear, and bring that (unwrapped) along with a “wish” for the bride and groom. The point of the game is for the bride to try and guess who provided which pair of underwear. I provided a form that could be typed in so the bride wouldn’t recognize everyone’s writing, since that would make the game way too easy! (You can see it here: Annie’s Bachelorette Wishes.)

It ended up being even more fun than I thought, mostly because of someone’s recommendation that the bride put on each pair of underwear that she guessed correctly. Definitely my favorite part of this game. Well…hearing everyone’s wishes was also pretty great! I had decided that the “winner” for prize purposes would be the girl who’s wish and underwear were guessed correctly by the bride; however, this bride had really good deductive and detective skills, so all the girls that she guessed correctly ended up picking a number to break the tie!

Along with the underwear and wishes I also hung up a gift for the bride: a personalized hangar that she could use on her wedding day for her wedding gown photos. Another Etsy purchase.

We ended the games with a simple “kiss the guy in his boxers,” then headed out!

We stopped by a random sports bar for a drink to kill some time (we had planned on hanging out by the pool, but the weather was not agreeable with these plans), then decided to head early to BarBasic where we had a reservation made. This place was good (great vibe) and interesting, but don’t believe them when they say a medium serves only two! We ended up with soooo manny pizzas! We were all obsessed with our waitress who was stunning.

After this we tried to get into a speakeasy (I think it was Noble Experiment), but our party was too big for the area, and they were booked with reservations. BUT, it was cool to try to get in through their secret keg wall!

Instead we headed to the Tipsy Crow, where we had to wait for the dance floor to open (we all quickly realized how old we are really getting!). The website says there is a cover charge, but we never paid anything to get in–probably because we got there so early, haha. This place had perfect music to dance away! I think everyone had a great time showing off their dance moves.

We had plans for the hotel spa after this, but it was closed, and I think everyone was pretty happy to just head to bed!

Our last planned event was brunch at Bailiwick. The food was ok, but I think the style of the place was the best part. I couldn’t stop obsessing over everything!

This was also where we gave the bachelorette her last gift of the weekend: a photo frame kissed by all the girls that attended!

My one suggestion: practice your kisses before you do it on the frame…mine ended up looking super sad, haha.

And who doesn’t want to end their time in San Diego by enjoying a free hopscotch across the intersection?

It may have been months in the planning and at least a hundred emails back and forth to coordinate, but damn, I love when things go perfectly as planned!